How to Control Gestational Diabetes Naturally

Click to Grab Your Free Keto Grocery List!

It is so interesting to be a part of coaching people towards building their successful online businesses… but one thing every success story has in common is getting over your first funk.

Watch my video below to find my helpful tips to overcoming your first funk and be on your way to your next success:

Have you tried to start a business before? Maybe you are currently going through your first funk! If this video helped you in any way, I would love to know – or maybe just pass it on to someone you know could benefit from a little encouragement.read more

Three years ago, I was looking for a way to help my family financially without having to leave my girls. My friend told me how she was earning a full time income at home by helping others get healthy and feel their best. I thought it was too good to be true, but I had to learn more because that was exactly what I wanted to do!

I learned how I could get paid three different ways with It Works and start earning some extra money on my own time. I had never done anything like this before, but I knew in my heart that I couldn’t let this opportunity pass.read more

Author’s Note: I’m excited to have a guest post from my husband Adam Parker today! I think he has another perspective on how we built our business since we was working outside the home when we first got started. Enjoy!

A few years ago I read a blog about working from home. It was about this guy who built a business where he was able to travel around the world and and still “show up for work”. For the life of me, I can’t find that blog post, I wish I could and thank that blogger.

When I read it, I was working full time as an Engineer with VERY limited vacation options. Although I liked my job (but didn’t love it) I really desired to be free to travel places, to show my girls the world around them, and experience it all! I didn’t want to wait until I was 65 and on a pension before I had the freedom to go places when I wanted to go!

That really spoke to me, could we really do that? See all these places we wanted to go, and still build a business?

So we made that our goal, to build a business not limited by what area of town we lived in, how much money we had to put into a building, or any other of the typical limitations. That spoke to me in so many ways.

This wasn’t something that we could build overnight. We knew it was going to take time, but we were excited to work on that goal and dream of our future freedom together.

Now that we have that freedom, what did it take and what were the steps to get there?

We started an online business.

About two years ago, we did something completely crazy. We started a home based business with a global online store. With no background in business or marketing we started building this business and learning as we went.

We jumped in head first and really didn’t look back. We spent any free time we did have working on our business and working to build it up from scratch. We personally used the power of social media. We liked it because that was where all our friends were hanging out anyways (Facebook is the new mall.) Plus, we always had our phones or iPads with us to be able to work from anywhere.

We set Big Goals

We didn’t just start a business with no clear path in mind… we started a business with a clear goal that we wanted to reach. We were determined and tenacious with our goal and I think that was one factor in actually reaching it.

Our goal was to be able to make enough for both of us to work our home based business full time and have complete freedom of our time and location.

We learned what we needed

I think one thing that was crucial for us was that both of us are lifelong learners. We love a challenge and we love learning new skills. Owning a business wasn’t something we had ever done before, so it was important to invest in ourselves to learn new skills and how to actually build an online business.

How is this possible?

1) We do require WiFi… so we usually check before hand if WiFi is available.

We say with WiFi and a Dream, anything is possible.

2) We like to travel, so many of our trips include visiting our team members and bringing the girls with us.

3) The home business we chose isn’t a “party” based business (i.e. private home product showings), so that allows us to design our business the way we want. If that means talking over social media, or making a phone call to talk – anything is possible as long as you have your phone and computer with you.

4) Our main goal is connect with customers and help them reach their goals – Many people are familiar with ordering online and we just make recommendations to help them with their choices as they are looking for solutions to their problems.

If you could work from anywhere, where would your office be?

Does this sound like something you may be interested in? Read more about how you can start a business that you can work from anywhere.

I don’t think the second trimester was as easy as I would have hoped… I continued to be tired off and on. The nausea ended around 15 weeks, so thankfully that wasn’t an issue. I started taking Floradix iron supplements around 20 weeks or so to help with my energy – and I really could tell a difference at first. I’m continuing to take New Chapter Organics prenatals, Calcium/Magnesium supplements called Coral Legends Plus, Drenamin by Standard Process, Chromium – which is supposed to help with your ability to metabolize sugars and Fermented Cod Liver oil by Green Pastures.

I was sleeping beautifully through the night up until about 3 nights ago, so I’ve increased my magnesium supplements and will probably need to do another 30 minutes magnesium soak in the bath soon. If I don’t get a full night sleep… I am a zombie the next day. I hope that I can get back on track.

My midwife and I decided to not do the one hour glucose test, but instead I will test my own glucose at home for about a week to see if I need to alter my diet accordingly. I’ve been doing really well eating a high protein diet (over 100 grams each day and most recently around 120 a day). I’m still trying to lower my carbs. I do really well for breakfast and lunch eating lower carbs – I just have more issues with snack and dinner. I’m eating a 3 egg and cheese omelet cooked in coconut oil every morning. Then for lunch, I’m eating a huge salad with organic chicken, avocado, apple, dried cranberries, cheese, and TuscanyItalian dressing. I’m also getting into salmon salads with grapes, curry powder, and organic mayo (I’m too tired to make my own mayonnaise these days).

I started drinking my pregnancy tea last week and feel like the countdown has really begun! It is a blend of herbs specifically for preparing the body for the end of pregnancy, labor, and recovery. I also ordered my “Love your labor oil” by Hosie Naturals and my “Gentle Birth formula” by Mountain Meadow Herbs. I didn’t use these last time, but have several friends that did and had amazing outcomes. I already had a great experience last time, so I figure there is nothing to lose by trying it out.

I’ve been doing a lot of sewing recently. I call it my form of nesting. I doubt I will get much sewing done with a newborn and I want to have some cute things for Annaleigh and Aidalyn to wear this summer.

The nursery is coming together, but isn’t quite ready yet. I am having maternity pictures taken in 3 weeks and need to have it all “picture perfect” by then. Annaleigh appears to be head down now most of the time, which is better for my center of gravity and comfort too!

I’m so ready for spring to be here! We have had a few taste of warmer weather and I loved getting out and playing in the yard and neighborhood.

I hope you all have enjoyed this little update from the past few weeks. What have you guys been doing to prepare for spring?

I am on a very crafty roll these days! Getting my creative juices going with some dark chocolate usually : P

I decided since I worked out 4 days this week – and I had a toddler wake me up a little earlier than normal – I was going to skip my elliptical session for the day and sew instead. I made the halter dress from the previous post and this super cute toddler skirt.

Here is the sweater I used. I actually really liked this sweater, but it ended up with some very small stains.

First I cut off the arms – I’m going to turn those into leggings for Aidalyn soon.

Then I measured the length of the skirt I wanted from one of Aidalyn’s skirts she wears right now. I added a few inches to the top to have room for the elastic casing.

Here is the elastic I used. I think it is one inch wide.

This is after I have made the elastic casing and pulled through the elastic. I’m about to sew the ends of the elastic together and sew the casing closed.read more

So, we are having some hiccups with the sale of our house in Lake Charles that are making me frustrated with the whole process….

However, there are several things to be thankful for.

We have a buyer. The house was on the market for less than a week before it went under contract. We are not upside-down on our house. We have found a new house in Virginia at a great price!

Trying to focus on the positive, I went shopping. It wasn’t totally unnecessary.

My diaper bag has ripped in two places – just from general wear and tear. I’m giving my old bag to Aidalyn for pretend play and I’m getting a new super-dooper bag (very technical terms here).

I started by looking online at new bags. I found a few that I was interested in but I wanted to see them for myself (and thank goodness I did!)

I went to Babies R Us here in Midlothian – which is amazing by the way! They had a ton of bags to choose from… but none of them were screaming my name. The colors weren’t right, the price was too high, the features weren’t anything I needed, they were too small. So I reluctantly left – empty handed.

As I was leaving, I spotted Ross dress for less. I remembered that they had bags for sale there. I’m so glad I looked there!

Introducing my new diaper bag!

Do you like it? Besides being so cute, it has 3 huge compartments. One is just for diaper changes, one is just for my personal items (wallet, phone, etc.), one is for going out to eat. There is a place for a sippy cup on one side and another pocket with a zipper on the other side. Plus it has an extra big zipper pocket on the outside…

This bag has a secret…

It isn’t a diaper bag at all! It’s a computer bag!!!

You can see where my diaper change section is (the middle section) is built to hold a computer. This obviously wasn’t built to be a diaper bag, but for me it is going to be perfect!

And bottom line, this bag was less expensive than the “diaper” bags at Babies R Us or online. This was $35 and the other bags with the same quality were starting around $50.

You can tell they are so impressed with me they can’t contain themselves.

What are some of your best buys of buying something made for one use, but you are using it as something better for yourself?

I made this dress last night. I had a halter top shirt of Aidalyn’s that I like the idea of for a dress… but I was too cheap to buy a pattern. So I used my minimal sewing expertise and drafted a pattern from the shirt I already had. I measured Aidalyn so I knew what diameter I would need the dress to fit. I used my serger and regular sewing machine.

It honestly isn’t perfect, but for me just messing around on my sewing machine without a pattern, I think it turned out pretty good.

Aidalyn wasn’t in the mood for poses last night, so this is the view of the back. She is wearing just a simple onesie underneath it for colder nights.